Aglet

Verify Product Language Before Shipping a Key Flow

Verification makes terminology accountable to user action rather than internal taste. Review candidate wording in the actual task, inspect explanations and recovery, and record translation or access limits. Approve a label only for the audience and context the evidence covers.

Check whether the outcome improved

  1. Set language checks

    Require an action, surrounding context, candidate label, own-words explanation, expected choice, and disconfirming interpretation. Add a check for internal jargon, ambiguous abbreviations, and a label that differs from the term used in help or support.

  2. Review realistic tasks

    Ask varied participants to complete the task with no explanation before their interpretation is recorded. Compare correct choices, hesitations, and recovery. Include a context where the label is adjacent to similar actions or unfamiliar concepts.

  3. Approve the wording boundary

    Choose a label, supporting copy, another test, or a split by audience. State which contexts were covered and what remains unknown. Give an owner a retest trigger when the surrounding flow or translation changes.

What to carry forward

The verification record should show the action, context, participant interpretations, candidate comparison, and language boundary. Use the label within the tested flow. Keep a retest when translation, hierarchy, or user familiarity may change comprehension over time.

Technical background: GOV.UK user research guidance.

Keep the decision with the work.

Use a Work Item in Aglet to record the problem, the evidence you have, and the next decision. Add an owner and priority, then keep updates in the discussion so the next person can follow the reasoning.

Create an account See the product workflow